Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada so a Happy Thanksgiving to those that have found some time away from the Turkey to take the time to read.
It also is the day that all 32 National Hockey League franchises must submit their 23-man rosters to the League. Those rosters are due by 5:00 PM Eastern Time. That doesn’t necessarily mean those 23 players will be on the opening night squad. In the case of the Boston Bruins, Chris Wagner and John Moore, who both cleared waivers on Sunday, could find themselves on the roster opening night but would mean the Bruins would have to make two other moves to open up spots for them.
It should come as no surprise who the top 9 forwards and the top 6 defenders are. They were cast in stone on free agent frenzy. As too was two-thirds of the fourth line with the off season signing of Thomas Nosek and the returning Curtis Lazar.
The only questions remaining were: who was going to be the 12th and 13th forwards and who was going to be the 7th defenseman, and would General Manager Don Sweeney stray away from his liking to carry 8 blueliners?
Trent Frederic was given every opportunity to be the third cog in the wheel with Lazar and Nosek but he was in a battle with Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman and Jack Studnicka, with Studnicka being the only one that does not require waivers. However, an injury to Lazar has put a damper on things.
By the time 2:00 PM Sunday rolled around – the last chance to put players on waivers who wouldn’t be on the 23-man roster – it was pretty much set that one or both of Moore and Wagner would be sent to Providence or one of them would remain on the roster and Studnicka sent to Providence and Blidh and Kuhlman would be on the roster.
The injury to Lazar however allowed the Bruins to place him on Injured Reserve, opening up a spot on the 23-man roster and that allowed the team to keep Moore on the roster for now and giving Sweeney his 8 defensemen and send Studnicka to Providence.
Once Lazar is cleared, the Bruins will have to send a body to the P-Bruins to get to the 23-man roster limit, that is of course if there are no further injuries.
Here’s a look at the 23-man roster and the cap implications. You must remember that the cap is calculated daily and that every subsequent move made throughout the season affects everything from cap hit, to projected cap space to deadline cap space. The latter is the total AAV that can be added at trade deadline and remain cap compliant at the end of the season.
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Dom - Hockey 
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